Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

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Raiano
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Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

Hello,

On a recent trip to Disneyland, I searched for my coat of arms. As a third generation American, I don't know my family history except for a few scintillating tidbits. One of them, is my great-grandfather, has on the ship manifesto, the name Raia. But the name was changed to Raio for some odd reason.

Then I searched on other sites for variations of the last name. What comes up is Raia and Raiano, but still no success. There are some other things I know about my family heritage that is secret and not suitable for a public forum. But if there is anyone out there that knows about the Raia, or Raiano family, please let me know.

I'd like to visit Italy soon, but I'd like to know where to start.
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adelfio
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by adelfio »

Welcome to IG website
If you give us your great grandfathers and great grandmothers names and birth year and where the settled in the USA we can help with your research

Marty
Researching Trabia, Palermo surnames Adelfio, Bondi, Butera, Scardino,Rinella, Scardamaglia

Marty
carubia
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by carubia »

Raia is common in Agrigento province in Sicily and probably other parts of the island as well. The final vowel in names often varied over time and from person-to-person, and a's and o's can be confused in handwritten records. Moreover, the way the letter "i" in the name Raia was written, it looked like a "j", that is, Raia was written Raja, which looked a lot like the name Raso, since the "s" in that name was written so that it dipped down. Oftentimes the only way to distinguish these names was the dot over the "i" in Raia.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by carubia »

I just checked current distributions of the name Raia and see that it is most common in parts of Napoli province, Somma Vesuviana in particular. In Sicily, in addition to Agrigento province, it is also found in Palermo (but then, because of migration and the city's size, most Sicilian names are found there currently in large numbers) and Lercara Friddi and Casteldaccia in Palermo province. There are clusters in Catania and Trapani, too. What did the ship's manifest say was his last place of residence in Italy?
Raiano
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

To all, the last posts were so helpful to me. I appreciate your comments and I will try to dig it up.

As I recall, the ship was the Holen...something...it was Austrian. Noe (my great-grandfather) left the port of Scafalti. His wife was d'avino. Her father was some noble from a nearby 'village'(?).
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by carubia »

Then he was probably from Campania. The name Raia is currently found in the town Scafati (no "l"). The same is true for D'Avino. Both names are really common in parts of Napoli, too, especially Somma Vesuviana.

If you tell us approximately when they were born and what your GGM's given name was, we can look for records online and direct you where to find them.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by PippoM »

Here is Noè's Ellis Island Manifest:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f2/pi ... 2f9444.gif

He actually was from Scafati, and going to brother in law Giuseppe Avino
Giuseppe "Pippo" Moccaldi

Certificate requests and genealogical researches in Italy.
Translation of your (old) documents and letters.
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Raiano
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

Remarkable!

I honestly don't know anything else about him because when he came to America, he was murdered. Someone also tried to murder my great-grandmother, but she survived as well as her two sons. My grandfather only knew him as a little boy and gave me no more information. All I have is a photo of him in some kind of uniform. At first, I thought he was part of the Tyrolean Jaegers, but another researcher thinks he was a high ranking officer in some kind of fraternity.

That's all I know about him unfortunately.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

Oh, my great grandmother was called 'Jennie' but I think that has something to do with an Americanized version of 'Giovanna' d' Avino.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

Oh, great-grandfather was born circa 1860s (1867?). I have no info on Jennie (or it could be Jeanie).
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

Ah sorry, it keeps coming to me! A distant relative said something about 'owning' a town in villa Paligna. But when I google earth it, I only see a valley on the Adriatic sea.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Tessa78 »

Raiano wrote:Oh, great-grandfather was born circa 1860s (1867?). I have no info on Jennie (or it could be Jeanie).
Ship manifest posted by Pippo :D above puts your GGF's birth year about 1876 (He was age 26 on the 1902 manifest).

T.
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

That's correct! Now, is there a way to find out who Noe and Jennie's parents are? Do we have enough information to start?
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Tessa78
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Tessa78 »

Raiano wrote:That's correct! Now, is there a way to find out who Noe and Jennie's parents are? Do we have enough information to start?
There are no online records (that I am aware of) for Scafati :-(

However, with the information that you have you can write directly to the Comune of Scafati to request their birth and marriage records...
Address:
Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Piazza Municipio, 1
84018 Scafati (SA)
ITALY


Help with letters of request in Italian. Send a photo ID with your request.
http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... talrecords
http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tter3.html
http://www.circolocalabrese.org/genealo ... ecords.asp

T.
Raiano
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Re: Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

Post by Raiano »

I was told they dont usually respond to letters. That the best way,is to go in person. But its worth a shot.
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